Police call for calm after farmhouse, sugarcane fields set alight

National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole has called for calm and tolerance in Umlalazi, Eshowe, in KwaZulu-Natal following violent protests.

Hundreds of residents went on the rampage after a man was shot dead on the Gqobhokani farm.

According to police, on Wednesday two young men, one of them being 30-year-old Spamandla Xulu, were fishing at a dam on the Gqobhokani farm.

The men were confronted by a security guard who requested that they leave. An altercation ensued which led to the guard allegedly fatally shooting Xulu. The second man escaped uninjured.

The security guard has since been arrested on a charge of murder and is currently in police custody.

“The man suspected of killing Mr Xulu has been arrested and members of the community should allow the law to take its course,” General Sitole said.

Community members took to the streets initially setting tyres alight on the R66 road and later burning down the Gqobhokani farm house, his sugarcane plantation as well as at least two neighbouring plantations.

“Destroying property is no solution to any problem but rather it is a crime which is punishable by law. Furthermore, it serves to neither help nor corrects any situation,” said General Sitole.

He has tasked the Provincial Commissioner to mobilise an investigative task team to look into the burning of the farmhouse and farms and bring those responsible to book as “such behaviour is criminal and unacceptable”.

Members of the Public Order Police Unit, Tactical Response Team and members of the local police stations have been mobilised to stabilise the area.